During the early 70's, NTC gained
increasing strength, but 1975 was a year of some changes.
It is not clear who served as president, and for some
reason no Person of the Year was named. But an important
change was the moving of the annual meeting from the Barbizon
to The Players Club. In 1978, the annual meeting was in
Los Angeles, but the majority of members insisted on returning
to New York. Unfortunately, the 1979 meeting failed to
materialize and many argued for disbanding NTC. But NTC
survived, and during the 1980's NTC dispensed with the day-long
talks among members, replacing them with visits to important
theatre sites about New York and discussions with groups such
as the Nordic Theatre Council. In 1987, NTC created the Paul
Green Foundation Award, the recipient of which, who was named
by the Person of the Year, receives a $1,000.00 award. A
decision was made in 1988 to increase the membership limit to
120, and in 1989 an important new award was created: the
Barrie and Bernice Stavis Award for an emerging playwright.
In 1993, there was a discussion whether the
NTC periodical, Broadside, was simply too expensive to publish and
ultimately it was discontinued. In 1996, two additional
awards were established: The Outstanding Achievement
Award and the NTC Scholarship Award. The Outstanding
Achievement Award is presented to a non-profit professional
theatre which has achieved a high degree of excellence.
The winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award names the
recipient of the NTC Scholarship Award, of $1,000.00, given to
a young person to spend a year with an established theatre
studying acting, directing, writing or design. As the
century turned, NTC created the category of
"honorary," available to be chosen by members who
have retired from active work. The NTC decided that
members who had not responded to four requests for dues would
be dropped from membership. As the century turned, NTC
also instituted the staged reading of a play by the winner of
the Stavis Award. In 2006, the Cindy L. Havens award was
created to honor those who aided the NTC presidents in
conducting the events of the annual conference.
—August
Staub
